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This episode commenced with a isolated photograph, perhaps the most significant ever snapped of a individual from the royal household.

There stood the Earl of Inverness, arm-in-arm a young woman, while an associate grinned conspiratorially in the backdrop.

Lacking that photograph, taken at a party in 2001, few would have credited the assertions of a adolescent who said she was moved across the sea and forced to have perfunctory intimate contact with a member of the royal family?

An odd, indicative move by someone who had openly stated to have never heard of her, claimed he could no have had intimate contact with her, and yet handed over a substantial sum of monarchical resources to avert a drawn-out court action.

A Long Period of Disgrace

In this context, talk of the royal family acting firmly to distance themselves from Andrew are inaccurate. This scandal has continued for the better part of 15 years since that photograph, and a further photo of Andrew walking congenially with a disgraced financier came to light.

• Hubris: How long did his siblings, maybe even his parents, understand that Andrew was so presumptuous?
• Questionable Associations: They must have understood, if his staff and the authorities were fulfilling their roles, that he had some extremely unsavory companions given he openly invited them to estates.
• Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the household did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his overspending with taxpayer funds.

Journeys were documented in public records: helicopter travel from the palace to a sporting venue and back again in time for midday meal, chartered planes instead of regular transport, all for the benefit of "Airmiles Andy".

World of Deference

Then there was the presumption which required respect when he appeared in a space or the extreme obsession about his honorifics used on his official documents in messages to his associates.

He could get away with it while his matriarch, who inexplicably pampered him, was still alive. The sovereign did at least strip him of public duties and military positions in the aftermath of his ill-fated and, it is now clear, deceptive public statement six years ago.

Current Situation

It was only in the last fortnight that events sped up, following the issuance of accounts giving more grim particulars of his actions and that of his companions.

More information have again exposed Andrew's thinking that he could avoid being untruthful about his relationship with a notorious figure.

People (and the media) were far in advance of the royal family. There was no one of any consequence to speak up for him, a outcome of all those years of hubris.

Institutional Fears

The more astute family members understood that. The one imperative is to pass on the monarchy, if not as before at least intact and unblemished.

They have spent the last 190 years trying to reverse the image of earlier rulers, proving they are useful, responsible and responsive to their citizens.

He was placing all that in jeopardy in an era when respect and discretion is no longer adequate.

The Fallout

Finally, the notoriously hesitant king was pushed further. There was no alternative. The palace had relinquished authority of the narrative.

Now it is the stripping of honorifics and the continued and lifetime public humiliation that will hurt Andrew most deeply.

• Reduction: Reduced to just a commoner
• Prior Instance: The initial member to surrender his honorifics in contemporary era
• Military Service: Notably stinging given his duty in the conflict

He is still a counsellor of state, in principle able to substitute for the monarch, and he is still in the succession to the crown, but neither of these will ever come to pass.

What Lies Ahead

Can persons he encounters still show respect to him? Might they still slip up and call him Prince? Would they say Andrew,

Certainly, he is not withdrawing to a common area, but to the monarchy's extensive property at a royal residence.

There, he will be supplied by the monarch with one of the royal residences and given some sort of personal stipend.

This is not his former home, where he paid a minimal lease for more than 20 years, and the area is a bit remote, but even so it may not be adequate distance.

Pending Matters

Matters remain unresolved. There are still documents in the possession of overseas authorities to be revealed.

• Parliamentary Interest: Could lawmakers request additional information
• Fiscal Review: Or investigate the misuse of state resources
• Criminal Investigation: There may even be a police investigation into his conduct

Maybe for the present the institutional damage to the monarchy is contained. The message from the royal household was plainly that the revocation of designations was what the monarch, and especially other senior monarchical figures, sought.

Changed Stance

The cessation of deception that Andrew was acting willingly. And, significantly, the brief statement showed plainly that the monarchy were siding with the accuser's version of occurrences.

Furthermore, for the first time they finally showed regard for the survivors: "The measures are considered essential, regardless of the reality that he continues to deny the accusations against him."

Ultimately it is entitlement, self-seeking and indolence that will kill the crown. In his foolishness, personal excess and corruption, Andrew appears never to have grasped that reality.